Mission

Shrunken Shakespeare develops provocative adaptations of classics as well as refreshing original works. As an ensemble-driven company, SSC employs a colorful collective of established and emerging international artists to evoke the audience’s curiosity and inspire social engagement. Each play is a collaboration that fosters interactive, narrative-focused storytelling. Actors and audiences are guided toward an open dialogue, while bridging the gap between conventional expectations and the stage’s limitless possibilities.

History

SSC was founded in 2012 by members of The Barrow Group Theatre Company and Shakespeare & Co.

The goal was to select a classical play based on the uniqueness of the space it would take place in. This led to a co-production with The Muse, a Brooklyn-based circus, and SSC’s first production William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The short run played to sold out houses, and was well-received due in part to the immersive nature of the show and the use of Muse acrobats throughout the production.

In the fall of 2013, the company produced Shakespeare’s “Two Gentlemen of Verona” in an underground cabaret bar. Each actor portrayed both their character and also a waiter in the bar.

Most notably, the 2014 season began with an East Coast Premiere and ended with an SSC Original Workshop. In the springtime, veteran TV/film actor Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas) collaborated with SSC in bringing Sorvino’s adaptation of “King Lear” to life as a Celebrity Staged Reading/Workshop at The Barrow Group. In the fall the company presented a workshop production of “What We Know,” a modern retelling of Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters.” The 9 cast members devised the piece as an ensemble over a 9-month period. Critics praised the production and the workshop is currently being reviewed for future development.

A co-production with film producer Adam Shulman topped off the 2015 season. SSC brought on Danya Taymor to direct Olivier Award winner Chukwudi Iwuji’s screenplay “Ira,” an in-depth look at the life of African-American classical actor Ira Aldridge. The star-studded cast played for one evening as a precursor to the development of the film version. The season ended with the company’s “Midsummer” being reimagined for the Secret Summer farm-to-bar festival, where it was performed for over 600 guests.

For the past 3 years SSC been transforming its mission and creative team, as well as garnering its Not-For-Profit 501(c)(3) status. The 2018-2019 season is a much-anticipated rebranding and re-launch of the company, its goals, and its exciting future on the New York theater scene.

Team

Yvonne Cone Executive Director

Yvonne is the co-founder of SSC and is an NYC based actor, producer, writer, and teacher. Credits include: Shrunken Shakespeare Company: King Lear, Ira, What We Know: An American Retelling of ‘Three Sisters,’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Kill Shakespeare; The Pearl Theatre Company: The Sneeze; La Mama: Firebird; HERE Arts: Gymnos (NYIT Award); The Barrow Group Theatre Company: People on Fire, The Tarantino Variations, Below, Process; Regional: Shakespeare & Co.: Pericles, The Hound of the Baskervilles (American Premiere); Maryland Shakespeare Festival: Midsummer, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare Alive; Shakespeare Orange County: Henry V, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice; Colonial Theatre: The Tempest; American Shakespeare Center: The General of Hot Desire;TV: The Mysteries of Laura; Film: Falling, Take Me With You, Sweet Thing, Bad Blood.

B.F.A. Chapman University.

Anne Cecelia HaneyResident Director

Drama Desk Nomination 2017 (Ellen McLaughlin’s The Trojan Women). Anne is a Brooklyn-based bilingual director, translator, and musician who blends a text-based approach with a surrealist vision. She is a Resident Director at the Flea Theater, and is the Literary Manager of Old Sound Room performance ensemble. Recent work includes Eli Nixon’s Blood Bag (Brown University x The Flea); Max Mondi’s House of Karen (Columbia University x Signature Theatre); Matthew Paul Olmos’ Alone In Our Sex (IRT); Daaimah Mubashshir’s Everyday Afroplay (Jack). Assistant directing includes the world premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Angel’s Bone at the 2015 Prototype Festival and Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music at St. Ann’s Warehouse, as well as productions for BAM’s Next Wave Festival and Atlantic Theater Company.

B.A. University of Virginia.

Krysta Hibbard Artistic Associate

Krysta is the COO of Silver Towers Productions; an NYC based Production Company dedicated to developing new work. She is a self-proclaimed “artist wrangler,” and works to bridge the gap between the artistic and technical worlds. Krysta was the Associate Producer for the not-for-profit organization Throughline Artists, and produced the Summer Shorts festival of new American short plays at 59E59, as well as Stage to Screen, which gives previously produced short plays a life on the big screen. Past work includes: Catwalk Kings, Arrahal, Seafarer, Capone, Dark Clothes of Night, Igniting the Alabaster You, Love Letters to a Dictator, Everybody Dies, Certifiable. Upcoming projects: For Hope, An Origin Story.